North East RadioWatch: March 3, 2000

Finger Lakes Shake-Up

We begin this week in NEW YORK's scenic Finger Lakes region, an area
we don't usually talk about much in this column for the simple reason
that radio there tends to just chug along without much change or
disruption -- until now.

George Souhan, the 70 year old owner of Seneca Falls' WSFW (1110) and
WSFW-FM (99.3), announced last week that he's selling the stations
that his family has owned (except for an 8 year interregnum) since
they signed on the air decades ago.

Here's how the deal shakes out: Souhan will sell the stations to
Family Life Ministries of Bath, which operates an extensive noncomm
network of religious FMs across upstate New York and northern
Pennsylvania. Family Life will then trade WSFW AM/FM to George
Kimble's Radio Group for Kimble's WLLW (93.7 Clyde), which serves the
eastern Finger Lakes from studios in Auburn.

From a programming standpoint, WLLW's rock format and calls will move
from 93.7 to 99.3, Family Life will take 93.7 religious under new
calls, and WSFW(AM) will switch from satellite classic country to
satellite adult standards (the same format Kimble now runs on WAUB
1590 in Auburn).

So why is this being treated as a big deal in Seneca Falls? Simple:
WSFW was an unusually community-oriented radio station. From the
little downtown storefront with the big radio dial over the window,
WSFW was the voice for community events and information in
Seneca County. The county has no daily newspaper of its own, and its
only other radio station is WNYR (98.5 Waterloo), which is owned by
none other than George Kimble and runs a mostly-satellite AC format
from studios in Geneva, Ontario County. Once this deal closes, Kimble
will own a string of Finger Lakes stations from WCGR Canandaigua to
WGVA Geneva to WNYR to the new WSFW/WLLW combo to WAUB -- and his only
commercial radio competition in the northern Finger Lakes will be WFLK
(101.7 Geneva) and WYLF (850 Penn Yan), owned by his brother Russ
Kimble.

In fairness to George Kimble, he's trying to make the best of the
situation -- he tells NERW no decision has been made yet about whether
the Seneca Falls studios will be closed, and he says he'll try to keep
as many WSFW employees as he can afford. And we're certainly happy to
see the stations stay in the hands of owners based in the region.
It's just hard to imagine that the state of affairs in Seneca County
will be helped any by the inevitable decrease in local programming
that will follow WSFW's farewell broadcast next Friday...

A few bits of Albany-area news: WTMM (1300 Rensselaer) will take over
Yankees broadcasts this season from WZMR (104.9 Altamont), which has
been running the Yanks for quite a few years, back to its old WSRD
Johnstown days. Rumors are flying in the Capital District that Steve
Mindich may be planning a new outpost of his WFNX-based modern-rock
network (we're hearing similar rumors about Providence, too) -- which
brings back recollections of the last such attempt, when Long Island's
WDRE tried to go regional with outlets in Philadelphia (WIBF 103.9
Jenkintown, now WPHI) and Albany (WWCP 96.7 Clifton Park, now WDCD).

And the Sound of Life religious folks have been busy this week:
they've signed on WLJH (90.9 Glens Falls), the last of their pending
construction permits in the Hudson Valley. Also new to the air is
W206AW (89.1 Pawling), a translator of WFGB Kingston that's reported
to be putting a solid signal into New Milford and parts of Danbury
across the Connecticut line from its transmitter on a hill in Dover
Plains.

Moving along to New England, the big news this week comes from NEW
HAMPSHIRE, where the classic rock of "Arrow" (WXBB 105.3 Kittery ME
and WXBP 102.1 Hampton NH) gave way to a repeating loop of bad
"Stairway to Heaven" covers and the theme from "Jaws" Wednesday night,
with a promise of something new Friday morning at 6.

Unfortunately for Citadel, the secret got out a bit early, thanks to
the folks at broadcastmusic.com who handled WXBB's Web streaming.
Visits to their WXBB site on Thursday showed the logo and calls for
"WSHK, The Shark" -- and sure enough, that's what launched this
morning as the repositioned, male-oriented version of the station's
classic rock format. (Visits to the shark1053.com site before the
launch were greeted by the words "Go Away.")

In the minutes leading up to the launch, the stations played a montage
of phone calls from listeners wondering what was up with the musical
loop -- which leads NERW to wonder: is it a good idea to annoy your
listeners that much when you're not making a really dramatic
format change? We suspect WHEB picked up some new sampling on
Thursday from rock fans who missed the Arrow.

As for talent, the Shark's new "Hammerheads" morning show features a
name better known to Albany listeners: Bob Mason, half of the "Mason
and Sheehan" morning show last heard on WXCR.

The new calls aren't in the FCC database yet, but the 6 AM legal
sounded like WSHK for 105.3 and WSHA for 102.1; we'll keep you posted
when it becomes official.

Rumblings from VERMONT: We hear Jay Williams has bought out partner
Robin Martin's interest in WIZN (106.7 Vergennes) and the LMA for WBTZ
(99.9 Plattsburgh NY). The stations remain on the market, we're
told.

Former WIZN jock Rich Haskell is bowing out of radio at the end of
next week; he's been across town at WCPV (101.3 Essex) for the last
four years.

And a federal judge has ruled against a certain Rutland pirate --
who's obeying the injunction and looking at Webcasting for the moment
instead.

A quiet week in MASSACHUSETTS, but expect things to get a bit noisier
by next weekend. That's when Steve Provizer will turn on his newest
venture in community broadcasting, "Allston Brighton Free Radio,"
running Part 15-compliant at 1580 kHz. Sign-on is set for Friday,
March 11; more next week.

Last week's mini-rant on the developing battle between WUMB and WAVM
provoked some e-mail from both sides, including a lengthy note from
WUMB general manager Pat Monteith, who points out that WUMB has faced
no end of headaches itself in its attempts to serve its listeners --
starting with a ten-year fight against WGBH, WERS, and Capital Cities
(WPRO-FM Providence) to secure the original 91.9 Boston license back
in the early '80s.

Monteith also points out that religious applications in Lexington and
Lunenburg on 91.7 will be hard for WUMB to fight because neither
community is within the 60 dBu contours of the WUMB and WBPR
transmitters, respectively.

And in fairness to the folks at WUMB, Monteith says she's hoping "we
can sit down with the folks at Maynard High School in the near future
to see if there is a solution which does not have to be so devastating
for all." That's not the kind of response (or lack of response) we've
become accustomed to hearing from the religious networks, and it's
refreshing.

It's a situation without an easy solution. WUMB offers a unique
community service, especially to listeners in the western suburbs who
lost the folk programming of WADN (may it rest in peace) a few years
back. We don't dispute WUMB's desire to better serve its listeners in
that area who now struggle to pick up a fringe signal from the 91.9
transmitter in Quincy.

At the same time, WAVM is trying to hold on to what it's been doing
for 27 years now -- super-serving its small town in a way no Boston
station (or even the chain-owned weekly Maynard Beacon)
can. Applying for a power increase is the only way that an otherwise
unprotected class D station like WAVM can keep from being squeezed off
the airwaves entirely (if not by the WUMB application, then by the
Lunenburg 91.7 application). Should WAVM have applied to do this
years ago? Hindsight suggests it, but those of us who have worked
with student-run stations know how funding and administration issues
can make moves like that impossible at the time they're most needed;
just ask Concord High School's WIQH (88.3), now off the air for lack
of interest.

In the meantime, WAVM is stepping up its campaign for support (check
out the Web site at www.wavm.org for more), bolstered by some
newsgroup criticism of WUMB that makes anything that's appeared in
this space sound tame. NERW wonders whether, given WAVM's limited
broadcast schedule, some kind of share-time arrangement could be the
saving grace here? Just a thought...and now that we know WUMB's
reading the column, it'll reach the right ears.

It's the end of the line for a RHODE ISLAND television institution.
Walter Cryan signed off WPRI (Channel 12) at the end of his 6 PM
broadcast tonight, ending a career that started at the station back in
1965.

Rhode Island's NPR station is sounding a bit more local. WRNI (1290
Providence) and WXNI (1230 Westerly) debuted "Rhode Island Tonight"
last week, replacing the 8-10 PM rebroadcast of "The Connection." The
program will run four times this spring, leading up to a fall launch
of a nightly public-affairs show.

From CANADA this week comes word that Cornwall's AM 1220 could soon
return from the dead. TRI-CO Broadcasting, which moved CJSS from 1220
to 101.9 FM last year, has applied to the CRTC to reactivate the 1220
frequency, again with 1 kilowatt, running a nostalgia format. Will
the CRTC approve? We'll find out at a May 9 hearing, at which they'll
also consider applications for a new FM up the river in Kingston.

The CBC is applying for two new transmitters in Sudbury, both 50kW
FMs. The broadcaster plans to use 90.1 for CBC Radio Two and 90.9 for
the French chaîne culturelle service. Years ago, the FM Atlas
listed 90.1 as CBBS, running what was then the CBC Stereo network, but
NERW's not sure whether this was a planned-but-never-built transmitter
or one that was shut down by budget cuts. The new signals will join
the existing CBC Radio One (CBCS 99.9) and Radio-Canada première
chaîne (CBON 98.1) signals up there.

A network of low-power country signals? That's what Roger de Brabant
wants; he already has one in Timmins and now he's applying for 98.3 in
North Bay and 103.5 in New Liskeard, both running well under 100
watts. The Canadian version of LPFM is alive and well up north;
Tri-Tel is applying for 94.3 in Timmins for a 50 watt CHR outlet!

And a long-defunct Quebec City AM frequency may soon come back to
life. Yves Sauve is applying for a 10 kilowatt full-time license for
a French-language country station in St.-Nicolas, on the south shore
of the St. Lawrence a few miles upriver of Quebec City. Sauve wants
1060 kHz, last heard in the capital as CJRP before the Radiomédia
merger of the early 90s. NERW wonders if anyone will ever file for
the other abandoned AM frequencies in Quebec City, 980 (ex-CBV), 1280
(ex-CKCV), or the long-gone 1kW 1340 (ex-CFOM)?

One correction from last week: Sean Casey was, of course, a jock at
WHDH (850 Boston) and later WROR (98.5), not a newsman. We knew
better...really!